‘Card check’ deals bad hand

Earlier this month one of the nation’s largest unions held a global rally protesting America’s system of free enterprise and capital investment, calling it a “Day of Action” to “Take Back Our Economy.” The irony is that if the lobbying efforts of a handful of unions succeed, they will take down America’s economy, not rescue it.

These unions have committed to spend nearly half a billion dollars on politics this year — the largest influence-buying spree by any single group in the history of American politics. Moreover, they are unified behind one driving goal: passing the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act, commonly referred to as Card Check. The bill would overturn a half-century of balance in labor-management relations, strip workers of core protections and enable unions to invade Main Street businesses with cheap, roughshod organizing tactics.

Card Check would effectively eliminate the ability of workers to vote in federally supervised private-ballot elections during union organizing drives. Instead, union organizers would have free rein to pressure workers into signing legally binding cards to form a union — in public. Once a majority of workers were “persuaded” to sign, the union would automatically be certified, and it would be illegal for the workers to request a private-ballot election.

The bill imposes draconian measures on employers, too. As soon as a union is certified, the legislation sets a compressed time limit for employers to agree to union demands on a first contract. If agreement isn’t reached in time, a government-mandated arbitrator would decide the wages, benefits and other conditions of employment that the employer must abide by under a dictated first contract. Even the workers wouldn’t get a chance to vote on it.

Although unions today win a clear majority of private-ballot elections under current law, some of them are clamoring for Card Check because they need “something big” to reverse decades of declining membership.

Instead of investing in membership-building benefits such as skills training — which many of the building trades and maritime unions are doing — there are some in the labor movement who see purchased political power and aggressive legislative action as the path to renewal.

In fact, Card Check is just the tip of the spear. Behind it is a host of other proposals that would expand union power, mandate costly new benefits, and shackle workplaces with new regulatory regimes.

Collectively, this agenda would turn back the clock on our economy and blunt America’s competitive edge.
In anticipation of next year’s legislative battles, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently launched the Workforce Freedom Initiative to counter organized labor’s ambitious agenda. The initiative is focused on galvanizing small-business owners, workers, local community leaders, and citizens behind the cause of preserving freedom in the workplace and stopping Card Check.

The strategy behind the initiative grows out of a recent nationwide Chamber survey, which found that while few people are aware of Card Check, people respond to it very negatively once they understand how it would work. In fact, nearly nine out of 10 respondents oppose any effort to take away secret-ballot protections from workers.

 To build awareness of this critical issue and build grassroots opposition to Card Check, the Chamber’s initiative is educating community leaders, employers and workers in key states through local events, meetings with opinion leaders, call-to-action conference calls and mailings, and Washington, D.C. fly-ins. The key is for lawmakers to hear directly from their constituents — small-business owners, community leaders, and citizens — that the labor agenda would hurt their communities and the American economy.

The Chamber proudly works with labor unions to advance a shared vision for economic growth and jobs.

But Card Check represents an end-run around the democratic process and, if implemented, would undermine a cherished American right — a secret-ballot election.

Law is chief legal officer and general counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Josten is executive vice president of the Chamber.